title: A review of medical treatments of cerebral vasospasm.
abstract: We review the literature on the established perioperative therapies for cerebral vasospasm (CV) following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Despite aSAH treatment advances, CV continues to be a significant source of post-SAH morbidity and mortality. In fact, CV has been correlated with a 7.5- to three-fold increase in mortality in the first 2 weeks after SAH. As new treatment modalities show promise in animal models and early clinical trials, greater efforts are needed to test these new approaches. Few evidence-based indications for the treatment of vasospasm currently exist. Large-scale randomized clinical trials are needed to determine whether therapies such as magnesium, statins, nitric oxide modulators, endothelin antagonists and others will become standard of care in the prevention and/or treatment of CV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Marc L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Otten
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mocco
authors.forename: E Sander
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Solomon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020301:Vasospasm, Intracranial / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D014665:Vasodilator Agents